Originally Posted by
vapahunter
I can't figure out why someone would want to ask this question? Each of us have our own abilities and disabilities when it comes to hunting. As long as the practive is legal in the state you are hunting then why is it any one else business whether a person pays for a hunt of not?
I do not have the opportunity to travel all over the country nd hunt in many states. If you do, good for you and enjoy yourself. If I decided I wanted to hunt elk I would pay someone to show me when, where and put me on a decent animal. That would be my decision so why should I care or worry what someone else thinks of the way I do it. It is legal, it is ethical and it iw a means for me to accomplish what I want out of hunting. So I would do it and enjoy it.
I tend to agree with the comments above. I personally live in a big city and do not have access to land like you may. A lot of people who live in rural areas have many more friends and opportunities with people that own bigger tracks of land. It sounds like the author of this post has many friends that live in the country and has access to land all over the nation. That sounds like a good set up that you have but a lot of us can't take off extra amounts of time to drive a long ways to find and scout land.
I'll give you a prime example, if I take off 3 days to scout public land in S. Illinois, the costs I run to drive there, hotels, Lost wages, head aches that I get from clients when I am gone, etc cost me a lot more than to have someone help me with a piece of land and give me suggestions on where to hunt. I would still put in a lot of time doing scouting via ariel maps and such. I have to say you are lucky to be able to have friends and access to do that, but some of us can't leave work for days to do some scouting. I have to deal with clients all the time and the more missed time that I can't help them, the more I have to work later.
I do have to say that a few people on here have been helping me with some Illinois public land 300+ miles from home and I really do appreciate it. They are saving me a lot of time and appreciate there help GREATLY!
I'll never put someone down for paying to hunt free ranging animals, some of us city people don't have the access and friends to do so. High fence is a whole different story, I can't stand that! I hope this explanation helps with why people would pay to hunt land.